American Civil War Fiction

Occupied by Union forces, Fredericksburg lies in ruins. After four years of devastating conflict, sisters Amanda and Alice are plunged into the turbulent world of the war's aftermath. Amanda struggles to maintain harmony in her home life, while her husband, Union Colonel Samuel Prescott, strives for order in the newly reunited country.

Twenty-nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln has spent his entire adult life running from his past - from the poverty of the dirt-floor log cabin where he was raised, from the dominion of his uneducated father, and from a failed early courtship. But now, Lincoln's past is racing back to haunt him. It is the summer of 1838, and Springfield is embroiled in a tumultuous, violent political season. All of Springfield's elite have gathered at a grand party to celebrate the Fourth of July. Spirits are high - until a prominent local politician is assassinated in the midst of fireworks.

Long relegated to a secondary position behind Gettysburg, Vicksburg has more recently earned consideration by historians as the truly decisive battle of the Civil War. Indeed, Vicksburg is fascinating on many levels. A focal point of both western armies, the Federal campaign of maneuver that finally isolated the Confederates in the city was masterful. The Navy’s contribution to the Federal victory was significant. The science of the fortifications and siege tactics are rich in detail.

The Separately Together series is a three-volume work looking into the relationships of its characters during the American Civil War. Written by Charles Heaton Allen, a historian, this series is exciting and challenging. It has been described as "the most uniquely plotted and warmly character-driven of the many Civil War novels I've ever read, which includes many of them" by Col. William C. Moore. It is worthy of the attention of anyone captivated by the Civil War era.

A century after Appomattox, the civil rights movement won full citizenship for black Americans in the South. It should not have been necessary: by 1870 those rights were set in the Constitution. This is the story of the terrorist campaign that took them away.

Ever since the guns fell silent in July 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg has emerged as the defining conflict in our nation's history. American memory has established Gettysburg as the most important, most heroic, most savage battle this nation has ever fought. It has become our Waterloo, our battle of Marathon, our siege of Troy. In this riveting historical reappraisal, esteemed Civil War historian, Thomas A. Desjardin, sets out to examine the truth behind the myth by probing how this battle became legend in American hearts and minds.

Josephine "Jojo" Best has it all figured out. Just 17, she's been to college, she has her own hairdressing shop, and nothing will distract her from her goals. That is, until handsome George Brooks begins to pursue her. Then the return of her childhood nemesis complicates her life even further. No girl is immune to Adam Morgan's charm. But when a wound brings him home from the War Between the States, it's a girl he used to call "Pest" who's turning the tables. All grown up, Jojo is being courted by another soldier, and Adam knows it would be foolish to play with her heart.

Rob Finn is joined by William Cody and Lonnie Walters as they begin their journey into the gold country of the west in 1862. Rob meets desperate and unscrupulous men such as Henry Plummer, as well as gentle and generous natives who heal and help the strangers in their land. We learn that the treasures of the earth are sought by greedy men on both sides of the Civil War, while lasting friendships are the goal of and reward for precious few hearty souls.

The Civil War, the most dramatic moment in this nation's history, also produced some of our greatest literature. From tragic charges to prison escapes to the desolation wrought on those who stayed behind, Blood is an extraordinary collection of reminiscences, fiction, and excerpts from diaries and letters by an array of soldiers, writers, and observers.

The Civil War tore at the very roots of our nation and destroyed most of a generation. In rural Arkansas, the Hancocks were devastated by that war. They not only lost everything, but experienced an unimaginable hell. How does a traumatized human being put themselves back together? Where does a person begin to heal his or her broken mind…and does one choose damnation or redemption? For the Hancock siblings: Doc, Sarah, Butler, and Billy, the American frontier becomes a metaphor for the wilderness within—raw, and capable of being shaped.

Set in the rugged frontier of the West, this unforgettable sequel to Janet Dailey's best selling novel The Proud and the Free begins when Lije Stuart, the handsome son of Temple and The Blade Stuart, returns to the Cherokee Nation after 4 years at Harvard. As the American Civil War rages across the country, the Stuarts, too, are torn apart by an old family feud.

Hearing the hoofbeats of 20 horses entering the yard at the front of her house, Mattea pulled the lead rope, releasing the cow she was milking and ran into the house to find five Sioux braves wearing war paint sitting at her table, smoking her husband's tobacco from the humidor on the mantle.

Betrothed to Major Samuel Prescott, Amanda sympathizes with the Union, but Alice struggles to forgive the Northern forces that nearly destroyed their home. To make ends meet, Alice smuggles medical supplies for the Confederacy, and she falls in love with Amanda's former beau, Colonel William Jackson. Meanwhile, two opposing armies, devastated by the clash at Fredericksburg, wait for the spring campaign on the banks of the Rappahannock River.

Through historical newspaper accounts and the personal letters of soldiers, the events leading up to the battle and the battle itself are stunningly recreated. You will enter the mind of Robert E. Lee as he makes the fateful decision to cross the Potomac River and take the offensive. You will feel the frustration of Abraham Lincoln as he struggles to convince George McClellan to fight. And you will stand side-by-side with foot soldiers as the peaceful Maryland countryside explodes.

Lexington, Kentucky, 1859. After saving John Hunt Morgan from a puma attack, 15-year-old farm boy Will Crump joins Hunt’s militia, the Lexington Rifles. Morgan mentors Will and enrolls him in the local university, where he hopes to study law. As tensions rise between the North and South, Will is torn between his loyalty to Morgan and his love for his family. Will’s sister Albinia, friend of the Clay family, becomes increasingly aware of the plight of the slaves. Luther is one of the first slaves Albinia helps flee the South after his master cruelly abuses his mother and sister.

“In this brief sketch of our great Southern hero, I have endeavored to portray, amid the blaze of his matchless military genius, the unchanging rectitude of his conduct, the stern will-power by which he conquered all difficulties, his firm belief in an overruling Providence, and his entire submission to the Divine Will. These traits of character were the cornerstones upon which he reared the edifice of his greatness, and upon which the young people of our day will do well to build."

Private Ike Lowery, a Union Infantryman from Illinois, wakes up in a strange place, short on memories, weak from hunger and blood loss from a head wound, and with a broken leg. He discovers that he is the "guest" of a Confederate widow in whose dooryard his squad was ambushed. Ike worries about his sanity due to his memory loss and the constant commentary in his head from a fallen comrade who finds Ike's situation amusing.

For three long years, the American Civil War has raged across the nation, scorching the land, leaving thousands dead, and tearing families apart. The endless fighting has hardened the hearts of soldiers of both sides. But on a lonely field in mid-Tennessee, some of those soldiers will come face to face with one another in a series of ball games. Stalled in a stalemate, the soldiers start out with small bets on who is better at the game; but as the wagers increase, so do the risks.

Three years have passed since General Robert E. Lee routed the Union army at Gettysburg and caused the Lincoln government to flee Washington, D.C. Now, as president of the Confederacy, Lee realizes the hollowness of his victory as he watches the South he loved and defended slowly crumble before his eyes. Lee must reach out to the only man he believes can help him save the South - the disgraced and out-of-office President Abraham Lincoln. Amidst intense opposition, the two men secretly devise a plan that, if successful, could reunite the country once again.

From Vienna's barricades to bleeding Kansas to the Civil War, August Bondi was continuously engaged in the struggle for freedom for half of his young adult life. As an old man, he wrote down what he remembered, and author Aaron Barnhart closely followed Bondi's autobiography in writing Firebrand. Barnhart also drew upon the 1958 novel Border Hawk: August Bondi, by children's author Lloyd Alexander (winner of the Newbery Medal and National Book Award), to bring Bondi's story back to life.